A Reason to Celebrate

Today, November 2nd, 2014 is a special day for our family as it marks 15 years of serving the Lord on the mission field of Siberia, Russia. It is truly hard to believe we have been here for that long!

I put together this slide show to share with you many of the blessings we have witnessed over the years. 

God is GOOD!

We would like to express our sincere appreciate to those of you who have prayed, given, encouraged, and loved us along the way. 

We truly could not have stayed here this long without you holding the ropes for us!

We look forward to many more years and many more blessings. 

We have so many dreams, hopes, and wishes that we beg God to allow us to see come to fruition here in Siberia. 

Please pray for us as we continue on in His name.

God gave the increase!

Quite a few years ago (2007 if I remember correctly), through helping out another Christian man with some building projects in our village, my husband met a family. This family lived in the city during the school year but came out to stay with Grandma and Grandpa who lived in the village, during the summer months. While my husband and Zhenia, the man he worked with, completed these projects at Grandma and Grandpa's house, they often witnessed to the great grandmother who also lived there. It was an unusual situation with four generations under one roof! In all there was great grandma, her daughter and son-in-law (Grandma and Grandpa), and their two daughters who were both married. The oldest daughter, Yuliya, and her husband, Vanya, had two children. The younger sister, Nastya, was married to Oleg and would soon be expecting their daughter, Dasha. Through working on these projects, and the daughters realizing that David was an American; Yuliya, and her sister, Nastya, opened up to let the guys know that they themselves taught English. One taught at a school and the other at the Aerospace University! My husband, David, and his friend, Zhenia, continued to witness and talk with the great grandmother since she would often work alongside them in the garden. It was a great opportunity to get to know this family better!

I, Dee Dee, was also able to meet this family, along with our children. The daughters, Yuliya and Nastya, and I enjoyed visiting together and two of our children were close in age. We invited the children to Sunday school and visited them every Saturday to invite them through giving them coloring sheets to bring to the next day. Through time, Yuliya began bringing her kids to Sunday school and even attended the Bible study herself. They came every chance they could and would even drive in from the city to attend church. We thought for sure that Yuliya would soon see her need for Christ and be saved. 

Pollina and Zhenia, little cuties - August 10, 2008

However, through time she got involved in a business that kept her busy. The kids had recitals and gymnastics to keep them busy and they stopped coming to Sunday school. We tried to keep in touch with them and were amazed that they would reconnect with us during the holidays, often exchanging gifts with our children at Christmas time. But, there were a few years where we heard nothing from them.

Sometimes during the summer months when time allowed them to, the kids would come to church. Once we found out they were in the village for the summer we would again make weekly visits to their grandparent's house to invite them. But, Yuliya herself would not attend services. The family was usually out of town during the VBS programs, which we always wished the children could attend. It was one of those situations when we thought, what was it that caused Yuliya to stop coming to services? And with that thought came a million others, maybe she was convicted? Maybe she was offended? Maybe she was afraid to take the next step and accept Christ?

As we missionaries often do, we ourselves thought there had to be a reason why she stopped coming. 

But, there never seemed to be any real reason. 

The devil sometimes gives them just enough busyness in their lives to distract them and keep them 

from making a decision for Christ.

Fast forward to last year's VBS program 2013. 

Yuliya and her sister, Nastya heard about our VBS and brought their children to most of the week's activities!

Pollina invited a neighbor to come as her guest which has caused this pre-teen girl to start to regularly attend Sunday school!

This year, upon our return to Russia from our furlough, we again reconnected with Yuliya and her family, to invite them to Sunday school. Thankfully, all three children, began faithfully attending this summer and were able to attend every day of this year's VBS program! Just before the week of VBS began, Zhenia expressed an interest in knowing more about salvation. As I was talking to him after service, Pollina came up to listen in and agreed that she too wanted to know more! I promised them that I would talk to their Mom since she and I have had a good relationship so that she knew how the Lord was working in their hearts. After the first day of VBS, I was able to take Yuliya aside and explain to her that her children wanted to accept Christ. She, not completely understanding herself all that repentance meant,  at that point agreed to read the "Done" book during the week of VBS and to come to me with any questions. She and her sister came each day as they could and sat in on every Bible lesson. Pollina and Zhenia even worked hard to earn medals for memorizing the most verses! Pollina beat out her brother for third place by memorizing 52 verses. Zhenia said 50 verses!

The next Sunday after the week of VBS was finished, Yuliya was in services while her children were in Sunday school. As they worked to finish reading "Done" together, we prayed for their understanding and offered to answer any questions. Yuliya herself, asked if she and the kids could come over during the week to visit. Every Sunday after services they have stayed to visit with us just because. This past Sunday, they explained how close they were to finishing the "Done" book and that they would complete it this week. Today, they were faithful to come early to be in their places for Sunday school. Once service was over, and I dealt with several other people and some medical questions, Yuliya waited patiently to visit with me while the kids played together. I asked about the "Done" book and if they were able to finish it this week. She said they read the rest of it in a day. Then she said, "There is a prayer of repentance at the end of it. We all three read it together and Zhenia asked me, 'Mom, does that mean that we just got saved?' I told him, I don't think so, Zhenia. We need to ask Dee Dee but, I think there must be more to it than simply reading this prayer." So, that broke the ice for more questions. I explained again how that in Romans 10:9-10 the Bible says: 

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." 

 I asked Yuliya if she would like for me to go through verses with her again and she agreed. She immediately called her children in and she, Pollina, and Zhenia listened intently as I explained the plan of salvation to them in detail.

I am happy to say that after our discussion, all in the same room and one at a time, all three of them placed their trust in Jesus Christ and accepted God's free gift of salvation!

Here is a photo of us in our home after we all spent some time together rejoicing over their decision to live for Christ!

Since Yuliya just today expressed an interest in reading the Bible together with her kids, she was excited to take the discipleship workbooks home with her for them to work on together as a family. Please pray for us as we explain baptism to them in detail, disciple them, and for the salvation of Yuliya's husband, Vanya.

GOD IS GOOD!

Wounded Soldiers (Katya's story - Part One)

(NOTE: I began writing this post as it is dated, back in February of 2013. I struggled with how to write and express all that happened as my husband and I fought for months to help this dear lady, Katya, receive medical care she so desperately needed, as well as, help her family cope with the reality of her illness. This post is the beginning of the wonderful story of Katya's salvation and the precious few months she lived as a Christian.)


This past week was a blur to us.

Almost like a nightmare that we would really like to forget.

As you pass through these halls it is almost like you are walking through a war zone;

walking past wounded soldiers weary from the fight.

In reality, it is the local cancer hospital where people should be able to come to find rest and seek treatment.

Being one of two cancer hospitals in the entire region rest and relaxation is a far cry from what you see

on the faces of those who have found themselves here.

Instead you see people, many of whom have traveled for miles just to have their diagnostic tests done and

hopefully be "lucky" enough or "sick enough" to be admitted the day they arrive.

They are exhausted from standing in lines

for endless hours only to be told they must come back later,

or even that there is no room for them at all, unless they can pay for their medical care.

You see, the situation here in Russia with cancer is critical.

The numbers of patients is growing.

I just heard a statistic that 5,000 children in Russia are diagnosed with cancer each year.

Less than half of them will actually receive care.

The best hospitals are not in the small towns but in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other large cities.

Then there is the older generation which comprises most of the patients here in our area.

We currently have two cancer hospitals in Krasnoyarsk.

They are overflowing with needy patients.

Take Katya, for example, the mother of one of our most faithful ladies.

This week was spent just doing our best just trying to get her admitted to the cancer hospital.

You see, she started telling me sometime last month (January 2013) that she was having trouble swallowing.

I told her she should see a doctor.

Fast forward a few weeks later and we find out she is in the hospital because of fluid building up in her abdominal cavity so much that she could hardly stand up. We understood what this more than likely meant - CANCER.

Katya was released from the hospital after they kept her for almost a week (if I remember correctly). The doctors told her she needed to be seen by a doctor in the city because they did not deal with these type of situations like hers. They really told her very little and eventually a doctor there agreed to drain some of the fluid off of her abdomen to ease the discomfort. While she was in the hospital a lady in her room kept telling her not to worry or be afraid that she would be okay. This Orthodox lady showed her prayers from her book of prayers and told Katya that she needed to buy a cross from the Orthodox church and "pray" those prayers. Katya returned home on a Wednesday so just after the service, I took her daughter, Sveta, and grandkids home from the service to try to talk more with Katya about her medical and spiritual needs. The Lord chose the perfect time for us to talk this time, as I had tried before to sit down with Katya and share God's plan of salvation with her but was unable to. This time, we talked a bit about her medical problems. Then she began sharing with me about what her roommate had told her and about her fears as she lay in that hospital bed. The conversation led right into sharing the gospel! I was able to reassure Katya that SHE can't handle what is in store and can't know the future but God does and wants to use this to draw her to HIM! After talking a little, Katya agreed to let me read some Scriptures to her while her daughter and granddaughters sat across the room. Katya soon expressed her desire to come to Christ and place her faith and trust in Him to save her. I prayed for Katya and then offered for her to pray and accept Christ and she cried out to God verbally and asked Him into her heart begging Him to save her! What a precious prayer Katya prayed to a loving heavenly father! She said "Amen," and she hugged me. Relief was audible in her voice. Her daughter hugged her while I sat with her teen granddaughter and noticed tears streaming down her face as well. We all rejoiced in that moment as we had all prayed for years for Katya to come to Christ!

From that point on, we strongly desired that God would be glorified in Katya's life no matter what the outcome! That evening I told Katya that whatever news she may hear as she goes into the cancer hospital for further testing, it will be God's will for her life and she can safely trust in His promises. That very evening she became visibly at peace even through her pain and suffering, now that her eternity was settled!

(to be continued...)

"Suffer the Little Children..."

This past Thursday evening, Nov. 15th, 2012 as we were holding services at Lena's apartment for her and her family, Yosya, her youngest son, expressed his desire to accept Christ. David, our daughter, Rebekah, and Lena were in their Bible study while I taught our boys, Rita, and Yosya a Bible lesson in the other room. Once our lesson was done, I talked more detailed with Yosya and asked him several questions about salvation. He clearly understood and was more than ready to accept Christ. Once his mother, Lena, was available, I shared this news with her. I also asked Lena about Rita because the week before Rita had told me that she had accepted Christ as her Savior on her own in her bedroom a few weeks prior. I was curious if Rita had mentioned this to her mother and sure enough she had.

Lena and I confirmed with Rita that she understood and she calmly and confidently answered all of our questions and was 100% sure that she would spend eternity in Heaven! At first, Lena was a bit shocked by Rita's confidence but I reminded her that Rita had been attending services for at least a year longer than Lena herself had been! She then smiled and understood that it was totally possible for Rita to know exactly what to do to be saved!

Once we finished talking with Rita, Lena and I took Yosya into his bedroom where we sat him down on the chair to talk more with him. When asked about why he needed to be saved he too was very confident in his answer that Jesus was returning and he needed to be ready to spend eternity with Him. He talked about how strongly he would like to be in Heaven with his whole family. He also quoted me telling him before that, "Now is the day of salvation," as the Scripture says in II Corinthians 6:2 - "behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." As I asked him if he believed that Jesus died to pay for his sins his voice began to break and huge tears fell down his cheeks. 

It was such a precious moment for Lena to see her son's tender heart and understanding of what Jesus did for him on the cross! Lena wanted to remind Yosya that this was a very important decision that changes your whole life. I shared with little Yosya and Lena what a great thing it is to trust Christ as your Savior at such a young age. Momma was in tears as Yosya kept his reassuring her that he was ready to be saved!

I told Lena that I thought it would be a wonderful blessing if she could lead Yosya to Christ and pray with him. She agreed and they knelt together on that same chair where her friend, Marina had accepted Christ a few months ago. 

Listening as Lena led her son in the Sinner's Prayer was one of those moments you never want to forget!

Afterwards, Yosya had a smile on his face that you could not take away! He was thrilled to be a new creature in Christ!

Lena and I with Rita and Yosya just after they shared the news with our family that they had accepted Christ.

(I apologize for the poor quality of this photo. 

It was taken with a phone and therefore the lighting was not the best!)

PLEASE continue to pray for them and especially for Lena's husband who is a Muslim.

 Lena also has an older son, Sasha, and she is praying for her Mom and stepfather to come to Christ as well.

Praise the Lord for the work He is doing in this family's life! 

Another Soul Receives Christ!

This has been an amazing week for us here in Russia. We both are so grateful for how the Lord has worked and the doors He has opened for us here. As you read in our last post, Lena accepted Christ on a Monday. That day, just before she left the village to return to live in the city, she was so excited as she told me of a neighbor with whom she wanted to share the gospel. We supplied her with a New Testament, several "God's Simple Plan of Salvation" tracts, a few other tracts, and a Roman's Road bookmarker. Lena was equipped and ready to witness to her neighbor! 

The next day, Lena called me to share that she gave her neighbor, Marina, the tracts and New Testament and that she wanted to thank us for these precious gifts. She then proceeded to explain how she had shared with Marina that she herself accepted Christ's free gift of salvation and that now Marina wanted to get saved! She asked if I could help tell her what to do next in order to help Marina come to Christ! I quickly shared this news with David and we excitedly told the ladies that we could come to them to talk further with Marina.

Due to some family difficulties, Marina explained that it would be better for us to come during the day on that Thursday. So, we arrived at Lena's sometime in the afternoon.  Marina came up from her apartment to meet us and talk with Dee. After talking with her for several hours, Marina had to return home to prepare lunch for her live-in boyfriend who would returning home on his break from work.

In that time we were able to hear about Marina's current relationship with the father of her youngest son. He is from Dagestan and claims to be a Muslim. She had been previously married and has one older son from that relationship. Marina was completely aware that she was living in sin and she had been searching for a way to change her life. 

Marina returned to Lena's apartment to continue talking with Dee and she soon realized that the first thing she needed to do was to accept Christ. Her family relationship would take time to sort out but she understood that she needed Christ in her life before anything else could change for the better. So, right there in Lena's children's bedroom, Marina bowed her head and asked for forgiveness of her sins and accepted Christ as her Savior! 

At that point, we called Lena into the room and the three ladies rejoiced together at what God had done in these two ladies lives! We realize that there is a long road ahead with dealing with the family situations but God will finish the work He has started in them! 

After much rejoicing we all decided that we would continue our meeting weekly with David teaching the ladies and Dee teaching the children as a Sunday school class. The first week we met we were so happy to meet Marina's two children who came to Sunday School for the first time in their lives. Marina was so happy to be able to bring them and know that her children would begin learning about God.

Here is a photo taken by our daughter, Rebekah, of our newest Sunday School class.

Please be in prayer for Marina, as well as, Lena as they strive to live for the Lord and be a light in their families.  Marina is well aware of the many important decisions she has to make some of which are in the immediate future. 

We are so excited and actually surprised by this new ministry God has opened up for us. These ladies live on the right bank of our city which is a good drive for us each week. We would have never guessed that God would have us work in this part of town after we moved out to the village! Pray for these new opportunities and for the others that God wants us to reach in this area of Krasnoyarsk!

What a wonderful Savior is Jesus My Lord!

During the week of VBS held here in the village we were paid a visit by a mother, Lena, of two siblings who began attending our Sunday school last summer. She was very grateful for our ministry and thanked me multiple times for teaching them the Bible and holding VBS as a way for them to have fun and learn more about God. During the summer, Lena travels back and forth from their apartment in the city to her parent's house here in the village. The children stay with their grandparents (Lena's parents) as much as possible so that they can get a break from the city and enjoy playing with their friends here in Elita. 

Last summer, Lena was still working and was hardly free to come out to the village therefore we only had the opportunity to meet her this summer when she came by to see what VBS was all about. 

Lena stopped by to watch the children one day and then she came again on the last day of VBS to watch her children receive their medals. 

On the last day I told her about our services on Sunday and Wednesday and invited her to come. She was very interested in the fact that we had services for adults. That was a Saturday.

Then, she walked to our house with her children on Sunday morning all dressed up and asked if it was alright if she came to services! She really enjoyed the service and said she would come again. From then on, she has come to every service when she is in the village. One day, her daughter relayed a message to me from Lena that she wanted to talk with me. I told her that I could have her over the next morning and she came to visit with me as we had planned. During that time She explained to me that she had come to "make friends" with me. You see, she and her husband, who is from Tajikistan, are building a house down the street from our house. She said that she really enjoyed talking with me and wanted to make a point to be friendly so that later when we would practically be neighbors, we would already be friends.

The Lord opened the opportunity for me to learn more about Lena and her life. She is a very intelligent lady. I learned about her education. She studied to be a geneticist. She is a very well read lady. But more importantly than all this, she shared a secret with me that has been tormenting her for years. 

Approximately 20 years ago, Lena had an abortion. As she shared this burden and explained how it has affected her life, I saw a broken soul who has been searching for forgiveness from God for a very long time. As she explained it she realized herself that forgiveness was exactly what she needed but she didn't know how or exactly where to find it.

She had since learned through attending our services that Christ died on the cross. However, she didn't understand that through Christ we have redemption and forgiveness of our sins. 

She wondered why Christ died. 

She said to me, "He must have died for himself."

 Then she and I took a walk through the Roman's Road and I explained to her WHY Christ died. 

He died for me. But most importantly for HER! 

When I explained to her that Christ died to pay for her sins through the shedding of His blood on the cross. And that when a person accepts Christ as their personal Savior, as far as the East is from the West, he remembers our sins no more; she started sobbing. 

Then she asked if she could hug me. 

It was a very special moment I hope I never forget.

As we parted that day, Lena shared how she would still need to "weed" out her thoughts and think more about what all we discussed that day. I was amazed that we actually were able to go through the Roman's Road. I knew how much reading she had done. At times she also seemed so confused about spiritual matters that I felt we would have to sit down many times together before I would even be able to begin sharing the Roman's Road with her.

Since that day, Lena continued to come to services. 

We were able to find her a whole Bible. Then through some difficulties with the building of her family's house, she came to my husband to ask some building questions. Long story short, she has spent a lot of time at our house and David has helped her in the redesigning of their house plans. During this time we have been able to spend more time with her mother, as well as meet her husband. 

Just yesterday, as she stopped in to ask about coming back for more help she shared with me through tears that she wanted to talk to me because she was ready to accept Christ. She tried to make it back to our house yesterday evening but she was not able to get away from her family after dinner. 

So, this morning I receive a phone call from Lena asking if she could come over to talk about the building and about salvation. The day was very gloomy with lots of heavy rain and fog but I was excited and looking forward to what I had prayed was about to take place. Lena came in and we sat down on the couch together. I had written down a few verses which the Lord brought to my mind this morning to share with her and we began reading those verses. She explained to me some of her thoughts and about an hour and a half later we knelt by our couch to pray together. I prayed for her and then she prayed and accepted Christ as her personal Savior! I wish you could have heard her prayer. It was beautiful. She cried as I shared some things with her as we knelt there together for a moment. 

As we sat back on the couch Lena immediately began talking about a friend of hers, a Russian lady, who is also married to a Muslim man. She has already told this friend about us and about attending services. Now that she has accepted Christ Lena wants to share more with her and even try to invite the friend over so they can "attend" our services through Skype. David and I have already talked about driving to Lena's apartment to visit their family and hopefully be able to study the Bible with her and maybe even her Muslim husband. She shared with me that her husband is very interested in the Bible and that he even downloads Christian films off the internet and watches them over and over again. Thankfully, I had an audio disk of the gospel in the Tajiki language that I was able to give her to give to her husband. Please pray for his salvation as well. I will not give his name on here at this point.

This picture was taken a few minutes after Lena accepted Christ. 

We had been crying and enjoying the moment together so it is maybe not the best photograph we could have taken. 

But it is a picture of another soul that found forgiveness and mercy through Jesus Christ. 

That makes it beautiful! 

I love this picture and I will forever cherish these moments. 

This is why we came to Siberia. 

We came for Lena and the many others like her searching...

I can't wait to meet the next soul we came to share Christ with. 

The Angels Rejoice!

We are rejoicing in the salvation of a teen girl during a recent Wednesday evening prayer service! We remember when Oksana came to some of the first services we held in the village Cultural building back in 2006. She attended for a while and then we didn't see her in church much. Once we started a Sunday school for children, Oksana began attending more regularly. Eventually, she stopped coming to Sunday school. 

First Sunday school after returning from furlough-
2009 (Oksana - three from far left)

Sunday school Spring 2010

Sunday School - December 2010 (Oksana - far right)

Then, several years later as one of her best friends began attending regularly she often tagged along. It was during this time that her friend, Tanya, accepted Christ. Oksana simply witnessed the change in Tanya and even started attending our teen discipleship class we started last year. Through the years, Oksana has definitely heard that Gospel numerous times and has learned much about the God who loves her and sent His Son to die in her place.

8th of March (Women's Day Tea)

Sunday School - December 2011

Recently, during a Wednesday evening service, Oksana expressed to me how she has considered repenting of her sins and accepting Christ as her Savior. She said that for some time she has wanted to be saved and then she would forget about it, then want to again after some time had passed. This was all taking place even during the time she was not attending services. Following the service I spent some time talking with her about salvation and reviewing many things she has already learned about the Bible. She was not ready during that service to be saved so I left her with much to think about and promised to pray for her.

Over the next few days, Oksana felt confident that she was ready to accept Christ. She was so excited she wanted to share the news with her Mother who unfortunately did not share Oksana's excitement. The mother's immediate response was that she didn't need to attend services because it was going to "mix up her brains". This is ironic since her mother has been witnessed to by several Christian ladies in the village over the years. Her mother has always been very friendly with our family, even sharing with me how she is happy that Oksana wanted to come to Sunday School. 

Finally, Oksana told her Mother, "Mom, I don't want to go to Hell. I want to go to Heaven!" 

After that she calmly went to her room and started playing on her computer. Her Mom finally came in and told her that this was her business and she could do what she wanted to do. 

That next Wednesday, Oksana came to Wednesday evening prayer service and couldn't wait to tell me she had made her decision to accept Christ! She also couldn't wait for us to be able to talk through the Roman's Road so we sent everyone else into the other rooms while I again shared the plan of salvation with her. Finally, she was ready to bow her head and ask Jesus to come into her heart and forgive her of her sins! We prayed and she immediately said, "I feel as if a weight was just lifted off my shoulders!" We then called the other kids into the room and rejoiced with Oksana. Our son, Ryan, had been able to witness the whole event and as we looked up from praying he was smiling from ear to ear with tears in his eyes. Such a precious moment for all of us to share!

Oksana and Dee just after she accepted Christ!
May 16, 2012

Sisters in Christ!

Oksana couldn't wait to tell David and the adults in the other service of her decision.

After the service most everyone stayed for cake and tea to celebrate her new life in Christ!

Please pray for Oksana to grow in Christ and be a witness to her friends and family!